Acqui

Acqui

A diocese suffragan of Turin, Italy, which contains ninety-three
towns in the Province of Alexandria, twenty-three in the Province of
Genoa, and one in the Province of Cuneo. The first indubitable Bishop
of Acqui is Ditarius. A tablet found in 1753 in the church of St.
Peter, informs us that Ditarius, the bishop, died on the 25th of
January, 488, in the Consulate of Dinamias and Syphidius. Popular
tradition gives Deusdedit, Andreas Severus Masimus, and, earliest of
all, Majorinus, as bishops prior to him. Calculating the time that
these bishops, Roman certainly in name, governed this see, Majorinus
probably lived either at the end of the fourth, or in the beginning of
the fifth, century. It is very probable that the diocese of Acqui was
erected at the end of the fourth century, about the same time, it would
appear, as the dioceses of Novara, Turin, Ivrea, Aosta and perhaps,
Asti and Alba: Presupposing the fact that the erection of dioceses in
the provinces of the Roman Empire, after Constantine, was not done
without previous agreement between the Church and the emperors, it is
safe to say that the most propitious time for such organization in
Northern Italy was the seven years of the reign of Honorius (395-402),
when a complete reorganization of the Provinces of Northern Italy and
Southern Gaul was effected. Other arguments could be advanced to
confirm the existence and episcopate of St. Majorinus. The name was
very common in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. St. Augustine
(De Haer., I, 69) speaks of two bishops of this name; two others appear
as signers of the Letter of the Synod of Carthage to Pope Innocent the
First (401-417) against Pelagius (Ep. St. Aug., II, 90). Veneration was
offered to the saint from time immemorial by the church in Acqui, shown
by his statues and relics. This veneration, however, has ceased since a
decree of the Congregation of Rites (8 April, 1628) prohibited the
veneration of saints whose sanctity had not been declared by the Holy
See. In the list of the bishops of Acqui, St. Guido (1034-70) is worthy
of note. He was of the Counts of Acquasana under whose government the
cathedral was erected, and is the patron saint of Acqui. The bishopric
contains 122 parishes; 456 churches, chapels, and oratories; 317
secular priests; 180 seminarians; 42 regular priests; 20 lay-brothers;
75 religious (women); 60 confraternities; 3 boys schools (168 pupils);
4 girls' schools (231 pupils). Population, 18,120.